OBJ

3D object graphics

File type: 3d graphics, CAD-CAM-CAE file

Files with obj extension can be found as common 3d objects saved using various 3D modeling and CAD modeling tools.

Found 3 different file type records with the same obj filename suffix.

.obj (1)

What is obj file?

File type category:
3d graphics, CAD-CAM-CAE file

Date updated: June 21, 2025

File extension obj is commonly used for a standardized files that contain 3D objects. This extension is used by various 3D graphic programs for universal object format.

Back in the mid 1980s a UNIX program called "Wavefront Visualizer" was created which used many different ASCII file formats to move 3D data from one module to another (this was before modern user interfaces were developed) - OBJ was used to convey the geometry data and MTL used to convey the material information. All of those sub-file formats became obsolete over time. However, in the early 1990s, Okino, Viewpoint, Alias and Wavefront Corp. came to bring the OBJ and MTL file formats back from the dead of the old Wavefront Visualizer days of the mid 1980s. OBJ + MTL files are "acceptable" for transferring basic mesh data, but the OBJ file format will not allow for the conversion of any hierarchy information, complex materials, lights, cameras, animation, meta data, skinning, etc. The OBJ file format is also verbose ASCII so it can end up creating large files.

Usually a simple data-format that represents only the 3D geometry, such as the position of each vertex, the texture coordinate associated with a vertex, the normal at each vertex, and the faces that make each polygon. Sometimes also known as Wavefront 3D objects.

How to open obj file?

Use CADRazor, Blender and other 3D modeling tools to open *.obj files.

How to convert obj file?

Generally speaking, various 3D objects can be converted to other 3D/CAD graphic formats like .3ds, .ply, .sat, .skp etc. and many 3d formats can be exported into .obj file format.

Suggested software to open obj file:

Autodesk Maya

Associated software actions with the obj file

.obj (2)

Intel (Object Module Format) relocatable object module

File type category:
Source code and script file

Date updated: November 9, 2017

The obj file extension is associated with the Intel Object Module Format.

The Relocatable Object Module Format is an object file format used primarily for software intended to run on Intel 80x86 microprocessors.

It was originally developed by Intel under the name Object Module Format, and is perhaps best known to MS-DOS users as an obj file. It has since been standardized by the Tool Interface Standards Committee.

It seems to be obsolete product.

.obj (3)

Microsoft Visual Studio object

File type category:
Source code and script file

Date updated: September 9, 2024

The obj file extension is also related to Microsoft Visual Studio and used for one of its file types. This type of .obj files is used for object files, which are compiled to binary file format but not linked.

Linking of object files is doing with LINK tool. The object files (obj) are used to generate libraries and executables.

LINK accepts .obj files that are either Common Object File Format (COFF) or 32-bit Object Module Format (OMF). Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler creates COFF ..obj files.

How to open obj file?

Use any of the Microsoft Visual Studio suites to work with the *.obj files.

How to convert obj file?

A conversion of this file is unlikely, it's a compiled file already.

Suggested software to open obj file:

Microsoft Visual Studio